With Hurricane Nolo, the islands of Hawaii are grappling with the third major tropical storm in recent months.
Hurricanes Lala in August and Lowell in early September flooded homes and roads, downed trees and toppled electricity lines across the islands. Nolo, which strengthened to a hurricane on Thursday night, is expected to batter the islands with rain and high surf.
Despite its location, stretching across roughly 1,500 miles in the central north Pacific Ocean, Hawaii typically avoids the worst effects from hurricanes. In fact, the island chain so often dodges direct hits from the violent storms that it’s been quipped they have a force field around them.
But the islands have seen an unusual amount of severe storms this year. Already, more than 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed as Nolo threatens to unleash downpours that could measure in feet instead of inches.
